Derwin Kitchen’s late miscues cost Florida State

Derwin Kitchen has made many memorable plays in his stellar basketball career at Florida State.

He will remember two in particular from Friday night, but for the wrong reasons.

With the Sweet 16 game tied in the closing seconds of regulation against Virginia Commonwealth, Kitchen dribbled out the clock too far and inexplicably didn’t get off a shot attempt. In overtime, he was indecisive with the ball in the Seminoles final play, resulting in another fumbled possession and a heartbreaking 72-71 loss.

Season over.

“I misjudged the clock and didn’t realize how much time was left and didn’t get a shot up,” Kitchen said of the regulation possession. “That was poor judgment on my part. And at the end of overtime I split the defenders, I fumbled the ball a little bit, so I didn’t have a good shot.

“So I thought we had enough time and if I passed it we’d get a good enough shot, but we ran out of time.”

Kitchen finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

“Derwin, admittedly, he’s accepting the responsibility for a couple miscues,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “That tells you the kind of maturity he has and the type of young man he’s become.

“He’s become our leader,” Hamilton continued. “He’s kind of the quarterback who gets the praise and sometimes get the blame, like the head coach. But for him to shoulder that, that just says a lot about him and how much he’s grown to articulate that.”